Cath. And that you should love him?
Vera. O, no! I couldn't help loving him!
Cath. [Shaking her head and taking up her work] My thread, child. I left it in the kitchen.
[Exit Vera, second entrance, right]
Vet. [Looking after her] She is like her mother, Catherine.
Cath. Yes ... dear Polya. I thought she was going to have a wilful heart, but she is just a woman.
Vet. [Moodily] I wish they were both with their parents in the only safe place in Russia, the grave.
Cath. [Looking at Vasil] Hush! He will be safe enough soon. The Shepherd is good to send him away, and he so poor himself. Buy him from the army, and all.
Vet. Send an innocent lad out of his own country to be safe.
Cath. He is to be a musician as well as a scholar. Berlin is the place. The Shepherd knows. He could not keep out of trouble at our universities. You know what you were in your youth, Petrovich.